A Tale of Seven Swords
by Heretek of the Wild
Summary: Inspired by "The Hill of Swords" by gabriel blessing, this is a crossover between more than Fate/SN and SAO (but the tags, you know...), where seven "swords" go to another world after their death. Also, lots of memes and serious business, because I'm like that. Main characters are : Shirou, Kirito, Ulquiorra, Kaneki, Ascheriit, Alexander Anderson and Clare. And others.


AUTHOR'S NOTE :

So uh, hello people who read this. This is my first work ever. I gotta say, I plead guilty if the story concept doesn't seem very original. I got inspired by a story I found recently (I started browsing this site recently), which I have heard is famous, and is known as "The Hill of Swords". Except it's not in the familiar of Zero universe, and it's not only Shirou who gets isekai'd. So uh... ENJOY !

[UPDATE] I tried to lessen the 'wall of text' effect by separating the paragraphs. Gotta see if it works.  
[UPDATE] Corrected a major plot hole.  
.

***Story start*  
**.

In the morning, there were sirens blaring out in the cities. People scurried away from the airports, from the ports, from everywhere. Everyone fled back to their homes, fearing not for their lives, as they knew that they would either die before the area became safe again, or live through the cataclysm. They simply hoped to not be among the ones who were going to die. Such was the mentality when the crisis came upon the coast of Tokyo. Hope, rather than fear. Not that it would save anyone who'd get infected. The Plague was deadly, quick to incubate, quick to kill, quick to spread. If you were sneezed on in a day's morning, you'd die by the next. There was no known treatment, no vaccine, nothing. Alternative medications proved themselves useless against the relentless virus.

It was one of a kind, unique, and lethal. Spreading through blood, saliva, sperm and other bodily fluids, it also travelled by air and freshwater. It took it eight hours to incubate, spreading through the entire host's body. At this stage, nothing happened to the infected person. Then, another eight hours, during which the virus developed, darkening, blackening the poor person's skin, necrosing the organs, consuming the blood, reducing bile and lymph to dust, making the bones more and more brittle by the minute, eating at the muscles, turning people into somber walking mummies. Then they died, taken by spasms and a deadly violent coughing that also helped spreading of the epidemic agent. It really deserved its name of Reaper Plague, leaving none alive behind, making no discrimination between the poor, the rich, the old, the young, the woman or the man, the faithful or the unbeliever.

So, when it finally broke out in Japan, people fled the urban centres, where it was most likely to get contaminated. The virus could survive a long time outside of a host, so the region would remain dangerous for at least an entire month. The island of Honshū was deserted, the roads were locked. Most people, including the government, fled to Kyushu or Shikoku, to the south. Some went to Hokkaido, to the north. Then, there were the people who stayed back. Those who were either too mad to understand the danger, those who did not care about their own life, and those who were too sane to give in to panic, who believed that since people were fated to die someday, it was not useful to tempt fate by trying to avoid it. None lived too long when they got infected. Madness spared the mind from the pain, but did not save the body. Nor did sanity, for all it mattered. And those who threw their life away did so knowingly. They all died, one day or the other.

From a rough billion inhabitants on the 1st of October 2038, the Tokyo metropolis was left with a mere three thousand on the 6th of the same month. Among those who stayed were the "lucky few", those who had the ironic chance of being infected, but by the minor strain of the virus. They'd die all the same, but without being infectious, and without a single bit of pain. Put simply, the virus would age their insides to the point of death in the span of a single day, and then they'd meet the Reaper as if she'd been a life-long friend – which she was, some say. Kazuto and Asuna were two of those lucky few.  
.

***Scene break***  
.

_I felt tired as I was about to lie down in our bed. No, not tired… I felt completely worn out, spent, drained… Empty in the body, and empty in the soul… I knew I had been infected by the Reaper plague… I had not lost hope. I still had one life left. I glanced a last time in the mirror, seeing the figure of an emaciated young adult, with unkempt black hair, and the face shadowed by huge eye bags. With all this black, I couldn't even see my own eyes… Not that I really cared. Black on black, I always liked this combination of colours. I walked away from the mirror, slowly, wearily. One step after the other. I wasn't wearing much besides my usual black pyjamas, and a pair of black fluffy slippers. I really liked their shade of black when Asuna bought them for my twentieth birthday. Over the years, I had… "customized" them. I had added velvety claws and fangs to the decoration rabbit, and demonic-looking eyes. Another chuunibyou phase, now that I looked back on my life. "Edgy", I said, "and really dumb." I let out a small laugh, that quickly turned into a pained coughing. Damn that disease, let me contemplate my errors in peace! Ah… I could be such an idiot at times. I smiled, and went to bed, lying on my back, the sheets providing a soft comfort that almost instantly made me fall asleep. I forced myself not to succumb, and waited for Asuna to arrive. Soon after, a minute, maybe two, she was here, in her white gown, and she lain down by my side. We shared a tired, but passionate kiss, and we finished our preparation. _

_I put on my old NerveGear, the first ever full-dive device, the one I played SAO with. Some considered it a cursed tool, having been designed as a killing machine by Kayaba Akihiko, the developer of SAO. To me, it was the thing that made me win. I defeated Heathcliff with that NerveGear. Over the years, I didn't use it much, but I always kept good care of it. It was like a knight's favourite piece of armour. So used, so fitting, that it might as well be a part of the body. I plugged the NerveGear, and started to upload my consciousness into my computer. When I'd be about to die, I'd only have to put the headset back on, and the last spark of my dying physical self would ignite my virtual existence. Truly, another life. But I had no merit for this method. I stole it entirely from Kayaba's personal data. Well… I hacked it, anyway. I infiltrated his database, and copied out all of the contents. It took me two whole years to even understand some of the programs. But after that, it all became a piece of cake. I completed some of the minor programs, and updated some of the oldest. It was like a treasure, a trove of code and numbers. I made it mine, I explored the deepest reaches of the manifestations of Kayaba's genius. I'm fairly sure he knows I infiltrated his database. He's still very active, on the internet. He manages the SEED and regulates many other things. But I'm sure he found the time to check on me. _

_He's Kayaba Akihiko, after all. He's the man who made the SEED, who designed SAO. Ah… Every time I put it on, memories flood back… I saw Asuna put on her AmuSphere – she never liked the NerveGear, it reminded her of Sugou Nobuyuki. That creep… I guess he got his retribution, he died in prison twelve years ago. I don't know how he managed to hang himself while on suicide watch, but I couldn't care any less. I powered up my headset. "Link Start". The lights flashed around, and I arrived in the hobby of the NerveGear system. It was a white place, with very few things. In fact, it was only a white floor, a white sky, and white light. There only was the menu in my visual interface. With a flick of my right hand, I opened it, and started the consciousness uploading sequence. I did not longer there any more, because it was a pretty boring place, and even if I didn't really fathom it yet, my time was counting down. I left the virtual world, and came back to reality. I removed the visor of the NerveGear, and saw that Asuna was ready too. I leaned towards her, and we kissed. It was very brief, but it was all we could afford. "Good night", she told me. And we both fell asleep, for the last time of our lives.  
._

***Scene break***  
.

When I woke up on the 7th of October 2038, I saw that Kazuto was still sleeping besides me. His breath was cold, and almost unnoticeable. His chest was rising and falling rhythmically. He was still wrapped in the sheets. I did not wake him up, I knew he'd enjoy those last moments of tranquillity. Instead, I rose from the bed, put on some clothes, and started preparing breakfast. For my last day, I chose clothing that brought back my memories; A red skirt falling down just above the knee, a white sleeved shirt, all held together by a yellow belt. It was simple, and a bit out-of-date, but it was fitting me quite well… Memories, memories… It was the outfit I wore at the time of Ordinal Scale… Twenty years had passed, and I still wore white and red… They say only idiots do not change; maybe I am an idiot, but I lived happily my whole life, or so I believed. I shook away those thoughts, and came back to my senses. I didn't do up my hair, only combed it quickly. Nobody would be there to see me anyway. I took a quick peek into the mirror, and I saw myself more tired than I ever were. My hair had dimmed a lot, looking like white with a pale shade of orange… I thought it looked like wilted sakura flowers. It made me smile… That's what was left of me, a wilted sakura. I heard a sound, and turned back to see Kazuto awoken and ready. As always, he'd have chosen to wear black. His clothes matched perfectly with his hair, and were in stark contrast with his skin. I still can't believe he has fairer skin than me. He chuckled as he saw that I was examining him. "Do I look like a ghost?" he said.

\- Yeah. You do. You're spectrally pale as always, and your clothes don't help by being pitch-black. Sheesh. Can't you ever vary your habits sometimes?"

He snarked back at me, with that little smile of his I'd learned to know. It meant that he was proud of himself for the joke he was about to spew. "Why? No, I can't change my habits. That's why they're habits. If I could slip out of them and fit into others, I'd be some kind of weirdo with schizophrenia." Then he blinked a couple times. "Wait, wait… I AM schizophrenic. Damn, is that why I'm always grumpy on Thursday mornings? No, that sounds like a complete asspull…" He ranted about for at least five minutes, and I had to tell him that breakfast was ready for him to snap back to his senses. He's got that habit… going head first into a particular train of thought, and brushing away everything else, focusing so hard on one particular thing that it was as if there was nothing else beyond. It was the only thing I did not like about him… That and his habit to hack national governments for the heck of it.

When he finally sat at the table, I could see just how tired he did look, how hollow he had become in the few last days; I could not even see the shine of his eyes – they were just lost in the darkness of his face. For a split second, I was terrified. I feared that he'd come and sit down only to die in front of my eyes. Then, I saw the corners of his mouth go up, curving it in a tiny smile, and I sighed in relief. I think I shed a tear, because he rose up, and came to hug me. "Yo, Asuna? What's wrong?" I said nothing, hugging him back, laughing a little, small tears falling down my cheeks. I don't know how long we stayed in each other's embrace, cold flesh against cold flesh, yet so warm… "Nothing" I told him, "There's nothing wrong… I'm just glad to be with you." My voice was merely a whisper, and so was his when he replied. "Yeah", he said, "Me too."

We stayed like this for yet another eternity, and I had a thought. Outside, the world had become hell. There was no hope there, only despair and certain death. The idea coursed through my mind that what we had prepared for ourselves amounted to going to heaven. But, I thought, it felt like going into virtuality wasn't as great as reality was. It sounded silly, but I felt that I could never experience as many, as much feelings from a virtual hug compared to a real one. And suddenly, I wasn't so sure anymore; did I really want to live forever after death? Did I really seek a second life that much? I didn't know. And I heard Kazuto's voice calling me back to reality. "…na? Asuna? Oi, don't fall asleep on me, please." He looked mildly worried, mildly amused, and he smiled at me. I looked at him seriously, and his expression changed.

He knew that the following discussion was going to be important. We both sat down at the table, and ate breakfast while talking. I opened the conversation. "Should we really do this? I mean, is it right to do so? To have a second life? To exist forever?" I think he wasn't prepared for THIS conversation, because I saw his eyes shoot wide open as he stared at me. His eyes were open enough for me to see the white in them, and the black iris around the black pupil. He was shocked.  
.

***Scene break***  
.

_I was shocked. I wasn't expecting Asuna to say something like that, after we had decided of everything, and had put our plan in motion. I stared into her eyes; I almost saw mine in the reflection. I didn't know what to say. She had a point. Who wants to live forever? Fools, delusional and cocky people. But I didn't think of ourselves as fools. We knew we could do it. We had the means, we had the will, we had everything. Or so I thought. Yes, she was right. Was it really the right thing to do? Was it something that we had the right to do? Or were we being nothing more than the fools I despise? I had no answer. I thought of the things we were going to lose when we would die. Nothing much, really. Except the walks together in the Tokyo gardens. I thought of the things we were going to lose should we not become virtual. And there was one thing I knew in my heart I couldn't afford to lose. One person I couldn't bear not to see again. Our daughter. _

"_Yui. For her, we must do it. We have to. We have to go, to reunite with her. We do not have the right to abandon her like this, not after we've sworn to protect her, to love her. As long as she wants to be with us, we have to be with her. It would not be right not to." _

_Those were my words. I didn't speak them as fiercely as I wanted to, not as firmly as I wanted to, not as strongly as I wanted to. But I did say them as resolutely as I wanted to. All my will in sixty words. I continued. I wanted Asuna to be fully convinced, to not look back again. We were going to die, there was no place for hesitation._

"_For ourselves, too. It is not as if we were going to live forever, anyway. Nobody wants to live forever. Only the fools and the deluded. Only the idiots. We are no fools. We know what to do, how to do it. And," I said with a grin, "I possess the SEED. I am the world's most powerful admin. I am Root on the entire internet. Whenever we decide to let go, to go beyond virtuality, all I have to do is to snap my fingers, and we'll be gone. Don't worry, Asuna. We have the right to live on after death. It is our duty to meet up with Yui. And," I said smirking, "Even if I don't want to live for all eternity, I really, really want to play one more game."_

_She looked at me with an expression of worry, an expression I knew well. She wanted me to be safe, and not risk myself in some reckless plan. She wanted me to not rush ahead of everyone else, to not endanger myself by trying to be the day's hero. And she asked me something that rocked me to the core. Something about my strength of will. That topic… was one of my sorest spots. I never knew how strong my will stood, nor did I know when I should exercise it. When it came to willpower, I didn't know myself. I was alone, in the dark. I could only rely on others, because I couldn't be strong all by myself. So, she asked me._

"_When the time comes, would you do it? Would you snap your fingers, and have us be gone forever?_

_\- Yes", I said. It was the only right answer. I didn't know at that moment if it was a true answer, but it was the only one I could give. But she wasn't done. More questions came after, more questions to which I had to answer truthfully, more questions that made me scour the deepest reaches of my soul to provide an answer to, for they were not easy._

"_What would it cost? What would you give up on?" And I had no answer. I took my head in my hands, ruffling my hair as I was thinking. I knew the answer, in fact. I… I simply didn't like it. It was too much for me, it was something that I couldn't grasp in my hands. It was a concept made to be beyond understanding. One word._

"_Everything"_

_\- Would you be happy? After playing one last time, saying goodbye to Yui, kissing and hugging me one last time, then *snap*?_

_\- No," I said. "I wouldn't be happy. I would be… afraid. I would do it, because I have to. But I do not know… If I want to. Because… I do not know what lies beyond. I know what is before life, and what there may be after, but I don't know what awaits beyond the afterlife. And…" I broke a little inside, "and I don't want to be alone…" I completely shattered, and I felt hot tears rolling down from my eyes, "and I don't want to leave you alone…"_

_I do not remember what happened after that, only that I felt Asuna hugging me tightly, her warm hands caressing my hair. I remember hearing her telling me something that felt soft, and I felt her head resting against mine. Then I understood her words. _

"_I know you won't, Kazuto. You would never leave me behind, no matter what. You would never abandon me. I know it. I lived it. And I know that even if we are separated, we will be together in the end. I know it. Don't be afraid… I'll come with you. You know it. Everything we do best is something we do together. That too, we'll do it together. My hand and yours, pressing the button that'll make us disappear. I wouldn't have it… any other way. And… whenever we go, we'll be with Yuuki there. It's not all that bad, Kazuto. You told me so yourself so many times… Death is only the prologue of a brand-new adventure. Don't be afraid… I'll come with you. I love you."_

_I was crying. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop crying. Thank you, Asuna. I could only think about how grateful I had to be, to have her by my side. I loved her so much… she was the one who kept me going. I felt that she was wiping my tears. We looked at each other, and gave each other a small tired smile. We kissed.  
._

***Scene break***  
.

In the afternoon, there was only silence, in the gardens of Tokyo. The sirens had stopped their blaring, the people had stopped running and fleeing. The birds had stopped chirping. There were only the sounds of our footsteps in the white alleys, without any echo, without anything. I could hear the beating of my heart, the thrumming of the blood flowing in my veins. Kazuto was walking besides me, wearing his old black jacket. Every time he wore it, I teased him about wearing fur. Every single time, he replied that the collar was made of synthetic fur. But I didn't do it this time. I felt it was not appropriate.

Instead, I just walked silently with him. We watched the sakura petals fall from the trees, we watched the wind blow away those that were on the ground. It was beautiful, seeing those shards of pink and white, seeing them fly around, swirling and dancing in the air. When they rose, they looked like the steps of an angel's stairs, I thought. That if you climbed them, you could reach heaven by walking, walking till you were above the clouds, till you were above the stars. And I thought that if there was a God up there, certainly he liked sakura flowers. He'd not have made them so beautiful otherwise. We sat on a bench, and I leaned towards him, putting my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes. I heard his words. They were beautiful.

"A blossom's beauty /A dying love in the wind, /Wind! Love again."

I looked at him. I didn't know he knew haiku. He saw me looking at him, and he smiled. "Found it on the internet", he murmured, almost apologetically. I didn't care. It was beautiful. It was what I wanted to hear. I felt him moving. I took my hand, and rose from the bench. "Come", he told me. I followed him, wondering where he wanted to go, what he could have found. Then I saw, and I smiled; I even laughed a little. He brought me under a large sakura tree. Its trunk was wide, and looked old and gnarled, with stumps of cut branches all along the height. The living branches were long, and just as twisted as the rest of the tree; they were covered in white and pink flowers, that fell slowly, petal by petal, on the ground below. The whole place was covered with those petals, as if the world had been dyed in sakura. I saw Kazuto pick up a flower, one that had fully blossomed, but not wilted yet. The outside of the petals was pink, the inside white. He put it in my hair, and smiled. I think I blushed a little, because his breath sounded a bit like laughter at this moment. Then, "You are beautiful", he told me. I'm sure I blushed at this moment; my face must've been as red as my skirt.

Then, I noticed the scenery, and I knew why he chose this place. We were in a corner of the gardens, atop a small hill crowned by the sakura tree. The entire summit of the hill was covered in petals, like a carpet of flowers, that were swelling under the wind, as if they were waves in a sea of green. Behind us was a very long street, completely devoid of anything. Between the skyscrapers and other buildings, very far away, I could see the sun slowly descending, shining at us in a straight line, and the light spreading through the branches, illuminating the flowers, creating a dome of pink and golden light. It was a wonderful sight, I thought. It was the perfect scenery for this moment, for our last moment of love, our strongest moment of love. And he kissed me.  
.

***Scene break***  
.

_I kissed her. I kissed her under the sakura tree, with the wind flowing in our hair, with the sun glowing in our eyes, I kissed her. At this exact moment, the world became still. It was eternity, the kiss frozen in time, that lasted forever. It looked like a marriage, I thought. A long, loving kiss, under a blossoming tree; a groom in black, a bride in white. It WAS a marriage, I corrected myself. A reaffirmation of our undying love. "Until death do us part", they say. Even death will not part us. It is not strong enough. I love her too much. I love every single part of her. Her voice, her eyes, her laugh, her hands, her soul, her hair… It looked eerily wonderful. A pale orange, white under the light of the setting sun, but the light that passed through the flower made it look like crystal. Pure, transparent crystal, flooded with pink light. An angel's hair under a dying sun. An angel's hair for a dying love. She was so beautiful. I heard my heart beating, but I didn't perceive it. _

_Time stood still. _

_The wind was blowing, making her hair flow, but at the same time, nothing moved. It was too beautiful. We were surrounded by falling sakura petals. They were dancing around us, as if to celebrate our union under the tree. Even space froze, to immortalize this moment. And I knew, that if there was only one thing I'd bring beyond death, it would be this moment. This memory. I would never forget it. I saw a speck of white. I looked like a dove, jumping from falling petal to falling petal, up and up, till it was between us. I'm sure it was a dove. White and slender, soft and feathery. It looked at us, and we looked at it, in this still instant. Then, from between us, it flew away towards the sun. And the sun, on the horizon, shone bright, shone orange. Asuna's hair, from crystal, had became like a stream of flowers, more vivid than ever. Alive. Yes, this was the most alive we'd ever be. Kissing under the sakura tree. The strongest moment of our lives, standing still in eternity. I knew it would not last forever. Yet, in my heart, it did. It would be eternal. Never would I let go of it. Never. It was a promise I made. Whatever happened to us, I would never forget her. I would never forget the moment we kissed under the sakura tree._

_Then, there was a gust of wind, and eternity came undone. The sun was setting on the horizon, red and bright. It'd die today, and be reborn tomorrow; just like we would. We broke the kiss, and looked at each other. We knew what the other thought at this very moment. There was only one thing to do. We didn't speak, there was no need. We only understood. It was our time to go.  
._

***Scene break***  
.

There was no wind back home. The afternoon came to an end, and we were busy putting things in order, making sure everything was neat and properly set before leaving. There was no time to be lost, we had so little of it left. We were really heartened, and it was done very quickly; plates back in the drawer, curtains closed, each room given a sweep, windows cleaned... Merely an hour and a half, and the house looked like we had cleaned everything before going on a trip. I smiled at the thought; yeah, we were going on a trip. Except that it was one-way only, and that we'd never come back.

I looked through the window, and saw that clouds were coming; they were grey, but not menacing. They looked like a very long and very wide carpet of light grey that was covering both night and earth. The sun was already hidden beyond the horizon. I looked up, and saw the first stars appearing, not long before being swallowed by the clouds. I thought it was going to rain tonight. I closed the curtains, and went back to our room.

When I entered, I heard music. It was a slow, melancholic tune. Kazuto was sitting on the bed, playing his guitar, drawing deep and forlorn sounds from it. I felt the sadness of the melody, I heard the lament of the song. He didn't like to do much outside of gaming, but he sure knew how to play guitar. When he saw me, he started playing faster, and it made his music more high-pitched. I preferred when he played like this. The melody sounded just as ineluctable to the ear, but at least it wasn't filled with despair. It sounded like… acceptation. It sounded as if the musician was walking to his doom the head high, a smile on the lips, while playing this tune, sneering at heaven and hell, knowing that there was nothing where he was going, but he had to go anyway.

Kazuto was always better with music than he was with words, and this music… I broke a little inside when I heard him going up all the range of the strings… Then I was mended when I heard the melody after. It was his favourite piece, the one he practiced in secret at night, at times he should be sleeping. The only piece he ever learned by heart. Unconsciously, I started swinging my head to his melody. I loved this piece too; I could hear it over and over for hours.

When he had finished, he put his guitar back in its case, and then back in the closet. I heard him sigh. "Man, I'm so tired… Time to go to bed, I guess." I smiled, and nodded. "Yes. It's time to sleep, Kazuto." I undressed, put on a night gown, and lain down by his side. We shared a short kiss, before putting on our Full-dive devices. I never understood why he kept his NerveGear; to me, it was reminiscent only of horrible memories. But maybe he forged good memories with it. He never told me, I never asked him. I felt with certainty that I would never get to ask him; I didn't know why. It was stupid from me, knowing that we'd soon get reunited on the other side. But there were some fears you could never get rid of.

I was about to connect my AmuSphere, when I saw that Kazuto had already started his NerveGear, and most likely closed his eyes; His breath was dwindling slowly. Soon, he'd be waiting for me on the other side. I took off my necklace; on it was the wedding ring he offered me, a simple golden ring – it wasn't worth much, that was true, but to me it had the special worth that only gifts like that have – and I put it around his neck. I kissed him one last time, he was about to go, and I whispered in his ear "Happy birthday, Kirito." And I closed my eyes.  
.

***Scene break***  
.

In Tokyo, there was snow in the evening. The city that had fallen silent, devoid of voices was now covered by a white blanket, falling with the night, that made it devoid of any sound, any soul. This night, Tokyo became white, and cold. Tokyo was dead.  
.

***Scene break***  
.

_I closed my eyes. The NerveGear was covering them, so it didn't really matter; I felt it was a good thing, though. I'd go with a relaxed face, as it should be. I felt Death coming; it was blue, like a wave slowly sweeping through my body, millimetre by millimetre, making it cold, making it dead. It was like a hand that I had taken, leading me away from my body. I knew that at the second I'd be completely gone, I would instantly be back in the NerveGear's memory, and then I would become a sentient program on the world's internet. But right now, there was nothing. I was not gone yet. I felt the blue coming to my head, and I sighed my last breath. _

_Dying… It was an indescribable sensation. Who could ever say "I know how dying feels"? Nobody could. It wasn't even really a sensation. It was like… a lack of every single possible sensation in the world. You simply didn't feel yourself anymore. Then, I saw Death. It was infinite. Not infinite as in, "immensely immense", but infinite in the true sense of the word. Infinite as in, "It ends nowhere." Truly. I saw where Death came to an end, and it was Nowhere. And Death smiled at me. I didn't see its smile. But I felt it. It was a snarky grin, and I knew Death was amused. _

_I heard its voice. The voice of Death… Imagine Agil's voice, or the deepest baritone possible. Now imagine that, but even deeper, and spoken through the tubes of an organ. Now think that you have barely started scraping the surface. Ninety-nine percent of it is underwater, like an iceberg. Well, even that is far from what it felt like. Death's voice is infinitely deep. To the point I am not even sure that it said anything. Perhaps it simply made me think something, and I dreamed the rest. I don't know. But I understood. "So, you come to say hello?", he said. "It's a shame you can't stay longer. I was eager to talk with you. Well, if it can't be helped… See you next time, Kazuto Kirigaya, my friend." And Death was gone. There was only darkness, I felt it. But I wasn't dead; for the shortest instant of a split second, I had been, and this instant is all Death needed to come to me. But I wasn't dead. I felt something grabbing my belly button, and dragging me back, byte by byte. _

_Darkness vanished as I faded away, and byte by byte, I was whole again. I felt the familiar sensation of coming online, and I saw the NerveGear's lobby materialize around me. There was only whiteness, that boring whiteness. I waited for my program, "Trickster Hand", to activate. Trickster Hand had only one goal; overwrite the NerveGear programming, and allow me to fully become an internet entity, with administrator rights. I counted down the milliseconds. Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… _

"_Link Start", I whispered reflexively. And I came online. It was staggering, excruciating, shattering; the amount of information circulating on the internet. I read, I heard… I felt every piece of information. It was at this moment that I was glad to be a program and not a human being anymore. I think I'd have died from the information overflow. I saw that there were many questions about my death. Yeah, I hadn't given any sign of life since last week. "Yeah, I died", I thought, "I died and I came back to life on the internet." And I felt that thought propagate throughout the entire internet network. Anyone who was online could feel my thought. Kirito had died and became virtual. _

_Oops. I didn't mean to ping everyone. Quickly, I separated the internet from my consciousness. It was becoming painful, and I didn't want to share my every thought with every single person. Once that was done, I checked my parameters. Kirito, administrator, Root account, SEED administrator; all my games were also there. It didn't really matter at this point, since I could infiltrate any game, but I felt like it wasn't really okay to do so. Yeah, I'd play them, but I'd pay for them first. I'm not poor, I can spend the money I have. Not like it'll have any other use at this point. I didn't even need electricity. Yeah, I had been uploaded from my personal computer, but now I was part of the entire internet, without a need for a connection to reality. For obvious reasons, I didn't need food or water anymore, not medical care. _

_I thought of that manga I liked to read, back in my youth. It was called JoJo's Epic Adventure. I remember the second arc, Combat Tendency. The villain managed to become "the ultimate lifeform" through magic. It was quite boastful on my part, but I briefly thought the same way. I needed nothing to live, and could do almost anything I wanted to. Through technology, I had become something of an ultimate lifeform too. _

_It was blasphemous, I thought. I wasn't ultimate. I didn't want to be. You're so lonely, at the top… No one can come by your side and give you hugs. You cannot feel anything anymore, because you've surpassed everything else. It's boring. I wondered, how does God feel, up there? I bet he plays a lot of games, simply to keep himself entertained. I shook those thoughts away, and I started connecting to ALO to meet up with everyone. It was around 23:00, everyone should be online. As I entered the connection queue, I heard footsteps behind me. I looked around, and I saw Kayaba coming towards me, the hands in the pockets of his lab coat. _

_He greeted me with a smile, that was somehow negated by his ever-distant, bored gaze. "Hiya, Kirito. How does dying feel?" he asked me._

_\- I didn't really feel anything on the moment. Before, I was all comfy in bed; during, there was nothing, and after, I was here. Anyway. Good evening, Mr. Kayaba. How are you doing?_

_\- Before that, let me wish you a happy birthday. Then, to answer your question, I was waiting for you. Since I heard the news of the epidemic outbreak in Japan, I was wondering whether or not you'd survive through the endeavour. _

_\- Ah, I did. I died, too, but I survived. Now, I'm about to meet up with Asuna in ALO. I guess you still haven't made a character for the game?_

_\- You're right, I still haven't played this game. To be honest, in the early years of ALO, I feared the people's reaction if I ever were to connect to a game. I didn't want the internet to turn into a massive witch hunt; I didn't want the SEED to be destroyed because I took the freedom to enjoy myself. So, I played minesweeper."_

_I looked at him, filled with disbelief. I think I must have had my mouth agape at this moment. "You spent… FIFTEEN YEARS playing minesweeper?" More than the fact that someone could spend fifteen years on the same game, it was the sheer ludicrousness of the situation that took me aback. "And all that because you were afraid? You, the man who created SAO? I don't believe it."_

_\- Well, I did kill myself in the middle of SAO and became entirely virtual at this point. Take into account the fact that I was ready to have my data deleted along the game. The only reason I didn't is because Nobuyuki had transferred it on his own servers, and was using it for the beta release of ALO. I am not a hero, Kirito. I am not like you, in many ways. I do not have the courage to face my own actions, I do not have the courage to withstand what I did._

_\- But it was fifteen years ago! I bet most people have forgotten you, by this point. So many games came and went by, so many things happened. Also, if you don't have enough guts to face what you did, why did you do it? Why did you turn SAO into a lethal game?" I was yelling at Kayaba, at this point. I was angry at him. I understood why he stayed in the shadows this whole time; I think I'd have done the same in his situation. But I couldn't accept it, not like that. I waited for him to answer. I saw him sigh, and scratch his head. I just hoped that he did have an answer. I wouldn't accept something like "I forgot" or "I don't know." Not after all the consequences of SAO. Four thousand people died there, and I barely made it alive, thanks to a bug. I think I deserved to know the truth, to know why this wonderful world inside Aincrad turned into a deadly trap for ten thousand people, why did a game turn into a world of fear._

"_Why, you ask? Heh. I had just finished building the Aincrad. It had always been my dream, since childhood. A castle of steel, flying in an endless sky, containing a hundred worlds… I just had built a hundred worlds; I thought of myself as a god, for this. Perhaps even did I believe I was God himself. The fact is that I wondered how would things go, if I actually were God. So, ten thousand lives were picked randomly, to see how godly I was. And then, as I was getting bored, I joined the game. It was a mistake on my part. Perhaps was it one I had to make. The rest is history."_

_He stared at me, looking more bored than one could possibly be. There was no trace of sarcasm on his face, no hint of untruthfulness, no relent of bastardry. He was telling the plain, honest brutal truth. Kayaba Akihiko was a man who thought of himself as equal to God, superior, even, due to his personal works, and acted as such in a fit of madness. No wonder he did not want to show himself in public anymore. He feared his own actions, he was afraid of himself. But fifteen years were enough, I thought. It was enough, and on the other side, it'd never be nowhere as near as enough to repay what was lost in SAO. _

_But four thousand lifetimes spent playing minesweeper definitely sounded like torture. It would be way worse than anything that ever happened in SAO. Images of Sachi flashed through my mind. Perhaps… No. Not even her death was worthy of such punishment. As that raced through my mind, I thought that it was thinking like someone superior to others. Who was I to decide what judgement should the guilty receive? I had no right to do so. Kayaba's faults were his own, and it was none of my business to decide how he should atone for them. That in mind, it didn't forbid me from criticizing him._

"_Nobody will ever be God. Look at me. I defied death, and am the most famous – and infamous – gamer in the world. I control the SEED; I have a Root account for Internet itself. I can have the world in the literal palm of my hand. Yet I never, ever thought of myself as godly. There are things I cannot do. If I were God, I'd be able to go on the moon. I'd be able to bring back everyone who died in SAO. I cannot go to the moon. I cannot resurrect the dead. I am not God." I told him flatly. I think he deserved those words. So, I gave him my final words._

"_So, get a damn hold of yourself, Kayaba, come back to this life, stop wasting time on minesweeper and enjoy all the games with everyone else." It looked like my words had hit him in the heart. He looked at me with a surprised glare, and spent like, a whole minute blinking. "Alright, alright. I will. I'll play a game with you. I guess you want me to join in ALO?_

_\- Yeah. About that, my game has loaded", I said when I got a beep and a green blip in the corner of my interface. I looked at Kayaba and said "See you on the other side, then." As the portal to the game opened. I started walking towards it, calmly, preparing myself to the wonders of Yggdrasil City. Then, as I was about to touch the portal, I looked behind. I saw Kayaba with a distressed look, shouting at me. "Kirito! Don't! This gate is…" I never heard the rest. My finger had poked the portal; everything around me became muffled and distant. I felt great pain, like thunder coursing through my veins, and I saw that everything around me had turned dark. I felt myself being deconstructed bit by bit, transported to God knows where. The portal closed behind me, as I was completely swept away. Then, a message appeared; all RPG players know this message. We all encountered it at one point or another. It left me dumbstruck. I didn't understand what happened. I only saw, "You died."_


End file.
